SEC sues Bitcoin mining firm Geosyn over unregistered $5.6m securities offering
The SEC is suing a Bitcoin mining company Geosyn, alleging that the firm engaged in an unregistered securities offering, raising over $5.6 million through deceptive practices.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Geosyn Mining, a Texas-registered Bitcoin mining firm, alongside its founders Caleb Joseph Ward and Jeremy George McNutt, alleging their involvement in an unregistered and fraudulent securities offering.
According to the lawsuit, between November 2021 and December 2022, the defendants raised more than $5.6 million from about 64 investors “through the sale of investment contracts.”
“[…] while soliciting investors, Defendants falsely claimed that Geosyn had favorable contracts with electricity providers which enabled Geosyn to operate the crypto asset mining machines profitably […].”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Additionally, the SEC claims that the defendants allegedly failed to disclose critical information to new investors, including the fact that they had never purchased or activated mining machines for some previous investors.
Furthermore, the financial regulator believes that Geosyn “failed to disclose” that it was not providing the services that it claimed in its offering documents, such as offering personalized crypto mining strategies or providing round-the-clock monitoring of mining machines.
The lawsuit further alleges that Ward and McNutt misappropriated approximately $1.2 million for personal use and made payments totaling about $354,500 to investors, purportedly as distributions from its mining activity. However, internal messages between the defendants purportedly indicate the need “to buy” Bitcoin to fully fund these distributions, the SEC added.
The SEC has accused Geosyn and its founders of violating federal securities laws concerning antifraud and registration provisions. The regulator seeks “permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil penalties,” and any other equitable relief deemed necessary by the court.
